Entries in warner bros. interactive
(7)

Some folks were quizzing me on why I didn't purchase Batman: Arkham City when it originally dropped. My reason: wait for the Game of the Year Edition (also, Skyrim.) All the DLC - challenge rooms, Robin, Nightwing, Catwoman, and tons of skins for The Bat himself - in one neat little package. As an extra-special bonus, the brand new Harley DLC comes packed in. Some things are worth waiting for.

Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition drops on May 29. For existing Arhkam City owners, "Harley Quinn's Revenge" DLC will be able to get got on May 30.

Xbox LIVE Arcade's Summer of Xbox is a nice little seasonal shindig where the service promotes the hell out of some the year's best Arcade games. Last year's line up housed some pretty impressive names such as Hard Corps: Uprising, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, Limbo, and Monday Night Combat. This year is shaping up to be no different. The lineup includes a few hotly anticipated titles, namely Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet and From Dust. Oh yeah, and Bastion.

I know, I haven't mentioned Bastion since I got some hands on time at PAX East 2011, but that all changes right about, wait for it.. Now! As the first title to kick off this year's Summer of Arcade, Bastion will surely be setting the standard high for the downloadable titles to follow. A silky smooth narrative of The Kid and the world that springs up below his feet seems as compelling as the environments are beautiful. 1200 Microsoft points is a small price to pay for throwback action-RPG three-quarter view deliciousness; something that is always welcome in my console. What better way to deflect the sorrow of not being at one of geek cultures premiere events?

Good news for the PC loyalists out there: Bastion will be available on your platform later this year. In the mean time, Xbox-heads can hack, slash, shoot, and yuck it up next Wednesday.

Eyes. Who needs em? Mortal Kombat cares very little for eyes, as evidenced by attacks such as Reptile's and Baraka's X-Rays. But what good will those attacks do to a character to has no optics in the first place? Yup, here comes Kenshi.

A blind monk who whips around a bitching sword with telekinetic ease, Kenshi is on deck as your next kombatant. Netherrealm promised a full slate of four fighters this summer, and after last weeks release of Skarlet - who is bloody fantastic - Kenshi hits the tournament next Tuesday, July 5. Two weeks between the first two downloadable characters, and I hope this pace keeps up. I'd love to bring the fatalities with Rain and the yet unannounced mystery character by time early August comes around. I hope Capcom is taking note with their handling of Marvel vs. Capcom 3's characters.

Will Kenshi justify the $5 buy in? Decide for yourself after laying your precious little eyes on this trailer.

Mortal Kombat is steadily solidifying itself as the best fighting game of the year thus far. Why? Post-release support that moves as quickly as Marvel vs. Capcom 3's entire cast of characters combined. Burned!

IGN has confirmed the much-teased female ninja Skarlet will officially join the tournament's kombatants next week, June 21. The perpetual menstrual cycle uses the blood of fallen warriors and some wicked-sharp kunai to put her enemies to shame. Sorry, was that period joke in bad taste? Well it fits perfectly, so I don't care what you think!

Skarlet will run you a $5 buy in, as will be the case with each following DLC. You bet your ass, more downloadable characters! Following the blood-ninja-with-boobs will be Kenshi, the blind swordsman. And after Kenshi comes Rain, ninja-prince of his realm, who dons the color purple. The correlation never occurred to me until about 5 minutes ago. Oh Ed Boon, your sense of humor never fails me! One last fighter for the summer has yet to be revealed. Any bets on the identity of this mysterious kombatant? I'm drawing a total blank, though Mortal Kombat lore is not my strongest suit.

Now you may be asking, how will online play work with these characters? Simple: each paid DLC will release alongside a free DLC which will not only patch the game - allowing you to play online against anyone who has purchased a character - but will also include a free set of character skins. The free patch releasing alongside Skarlet's update will bring Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 skins for Cyrax and Sektor. No word on who gets the new skin treatment with Kenshi and Rain, but as long as those packs keep being free, I'll be a happy gamer.

To be frank, I haven't cared about Mortal Kombat in a long time. The last game in the series I had in heavy rotation was the very underrated Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, and Mortal Kombat Trilogy before that. There was a certain je ne sais quoi missing from most of the sequels that followed the original trilogy, which ultimately led to a decline of interest. So why does the latest entry in the series, titled simply Mortal Kombat, inspire more thoughts of combos and fatalities than the past 4 or 5 installments combined? Could be because not only does this title kick ass, it rips your head off and splits your torso into five easy pieces.

Poor Johnny Cage. When he's not busy getting his ass beat in his own trailer, he's getting his ass beat elsewhere. Case in point, Shang Tsung's shine in the latest of the trailers for Mortal Kombat. The age-changing soul thief sees fit not only to kill poor Mr. Cage, but to kill him in one of the most humiliating ways possible.

Don't worry Johnny, you still have fans. I don't plan on choosing you, but I know people will. And when they do, I will chuckle at your hijinks. Shang Tsung though, looks thoroughly nasty. In case you didn't know, your soul is his.